Residents of the Bay Area seem to have a love-hate relationship with the fog. On one hand we love to boast about the fog's beauty and its natural cooling effects, while on the other hand there is an insatiable craving for the typical summer experience. The Bay's temperamental fog often comes without warning and abruptly leaves, like a disgruntled party guest without notifying the host.
For those unfamiliar with the fog, here is a quick tour guide of its prevalence throughout the Bay Area. The fog is an almost daily experience for most Bay Area residents. While San Francisco inhabitants bear the brunt of the fog's temperature dropping attacks, the fog does not stop there. Just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin county residents can watch the fog roll in over the hills nearly every evening. From there the fog continues to roam the bay, broaching Sonoma County. Northern Bay Area citizens typically experience low clouds in the early morning hours. Sleepy-eyed 9 to 5-ers wake up to start the day and dress according to the cool conditions outside. Unbeknownst to them, the fog will burn off before lunch, and they will be confined to their long sleeved shirts and knee-high socks for the rest of the workday. Directly south of San Francisco residents of Daly City, Pacifica, and South City are well acquainted with the fog. It can be days before a break in the thick clouds is seen. In locations like this, Seasonal Affective Disorder, essentially a depression caused by changes in weather resulting in people getting pretty bummed it's no longer swimsuit season, is a constant threat. While no scientific study has been conducted on the number of sundresses a Pacifica woman owns, I can estimate the average number is less than one. As you continue traveling down the gold coast the fog follows, slowly dissipating until you arrive at Santa Cruz.
Ask any Bay Area resident and they have mixed feelings about the fog. Sure it keeps us in a constantly temperate environment, temperatures waver between 70's and 50's yearlong. Yet at the same time the fog keeps people from warm weather activities like swimming, barbecues, and ogling each other out in skimpy outfits. Bay Area inhabitants are forced to don layers of clothing in an attempt to stay one step ahead of our unpredictable weather. While the cons of the fog can seem overwhelming during the "warmer" months, you need only travel outside the bay to gain a greater appreciation for our unique weather. I offer a couple methods toward learning to love the fog. Take a drive down I-5 during the middle of the day, preferably with a broken air-conditioning system and within 4 hours you will be begging to be wrapped in the cooling clouds of the Bay Area's signature weather. Spend a winter on the East Coast, I suggest Boston. If it only takes you 45 minutes to uncover your car from the snow in the morning to drive to work, consider yourself lucky. Or visit the Deep South in July, where you can experience crawling from one air-conditioned building the next, attempting to quench your insatiable thirst on sweet tea. Later, you realize sweet tea is actually a diuretic and now not only do you have diabetes, but are severely dehydrated.
Of course I would love to don little sundress while still feeling remotely warm, and the UCSF's men's basketball team would definitely look much better practicing with their shirts off. However, these trivial benefits to warm weather would come at the expense of yearlong physical discomfort and financial stress. After purchasing the fun warm weather amenities like swimsuits, barbecues, lawn furniture, and cute hats, residents of the Bay Area would be forced to invest in ice machines, fans, air conditioning systems, and a lifetime supply of sun block if it were not for the fog.
It is understandable why so many Bay Area residents become frustrated with the fog. I admit to having been unappreciative with it in the past myself. After experiencing life outside of the Bay Area, I've taken the fog for granted again. While it can be a little disappointing to purchase a jacket in mid-July, Bay Area residents are blessed with living in a temperate environment. How many deaths a year are reported due to hypothermia or hospitalizations that occur during a heat wave? Nationwide, quite a few. In the Bay Area, not too many. May this statistic be a reminder that without the fog, the beloved Bay Area could be at the mercy of Mother Nature.
Looking out my apartment window, I can't spot any quince, fig, or apple trees. Yet, this definitely feels like the Garden of Eden. Or maybe it's heaven, because I can sure see a lot of clouds.